Author: Morgan McConnell

I created my found poem using the lyrics from the song “Glitter In The Air” by Pink.  I love Pink as an artist and ever since this song came out, it has been one of my favorites. I personally chose this song because it made it easy to pick out the lyrics for my found poem to describe the way I felt when I was going through a tough time last year.  I transferred from community college and I felt lost at first, with no one to turn to.

For the reader to better understand, I kept the lyrics: “the breath before the phrase”, “walk before the run”, “the fear before the flames”, because I felt that it described how there is always a starting point in whatever you choose to do. The only way to move on from that starting point is to push through and try new things. For a month I was set on transferring back home, and one day I decided to start getting involved with school activities such as speech club, and my sorority, and met so many people when doing so.

Another part of the song I kept for my found poem was: “There you are, Sitting, Clutching, Calling”. I was hoping for the reader to read this part slowly, showing more depth into the feelings I had when I felt like no one was there. My favorite part of the found poem is the last part to this song where it says: “Held your breath..asked yourself will it ever get better”. I chose to keep this for my found poem because when I once felt like I was drowning in my emotions, I always wondered if there was a better feeling than that way.

I really enjoyed creating this found poem and think M. NourbeSe Philip’s, ZONG!, did a great job emphasizing important points to the reader by choosing words that held the most meaning. I have never seen anything like her writing and as we read the book, the way she arranges the words are perfect demonstrations of the close reading we do in class and finding hidden meanings.

Tonight I went to see American poet, Chen Chen, who came to visit SUNY Cortland to read some of his work in the Jacobus Lounge. I was unsure of what to expect because I had never heard of him, but when he started reading his poems, so many emotions jumped out at me. These emotions included sadness, anger, confusion, and some humor. He wrote a lot to his childhood, how grew up, his Chinese background, and his current relationships in his life with his family and significant other. One specific line that he read that really stood out to me was “….Aren’t all great love stories at their core mistakes”-Chen Chen. This jumped out at me because I took it with sarcasm and thought it was humorous. Overall I really enjoyed going to listen to Chen Chen read his poems and would definitely go to listen to another poet sometime soon!

The Woman Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston, starts with the first chapter, “No Name Woman”, with Kingston’s Mother telling her about the Aunt that was never spoken of.  Her aunt brought shame to the family because of adultery and was pregnant with a child that did not belong to her husband. Her mother proceeds to emphasize on the consequences of violence the village had brought to their family on the night the baby was due to be born.  The villagers raided their house, destroying absolutely everything valuable to them while the family stood their helplessly watching. The aftermath left her shunned by the family, as they said, “Aiaa, we’re going to die. Death is coming. Look what you’ve done. You’ve killed us. Ghost! Dead ghost! Ghost! You’ve never been born” (14).  Her aunt ran off that night, and was left alone to give birth in a pigsty because “old fashioned women gave birth in their pigsties to fool the jealous, pain-dealing gods, who do not snatch piglets.”(14). The morning after, Kingston’s mother went for water and found her sister in-law and the newborn child plugging up the family well.

While Kingston questions her aunt’s actions, it seems like she is trying to uncover valid excuses as to why she did what she did.  An example of this would be on page 6, where Kingston says “Some man had commanded her to lie with him and be his secret evil. I wonder whether he masked himself when he joined the raid on her family”.  Kingston is looking at her aunt’s actions in very different ways from the family and is thinking deeply into how her aunt could have met this man, or if she was in need of something in return. The thought of her aunt drowning herself and her newborn child in the family well seems selfish, or out of spite but Kingston then says, “Carrying the baby to the well shows loving. Otherwise abandon it.  Turn its face in the mud. Mothers who love their children take them along. It was probably a girl; there is some hope of forgiveness for boys.” (15).

The reason Kingston’s Mother is telling her this story is to warn her and says, “Now that you are starting to menstruate, what happened to her could happen to you. Don’t humiliate us.”(5) This is seen as what she calls, “…a story to grow up on” (5).  The story leaves Kingston with curiosity and fixation about her aunt who was never spoken of; what really happened to her, and why she is never allowed to ask. Kingston recreates this story of her aunt deciding if it will bring her mind at peace or if it will haunt her.  She ends by writing “The Chinese are always very frightened of the drowned one, whose weeping ghost, wet hair hanging and skin bloated, waits silently by the water to pull down a substitute.” (16) This gives us the idea that her aunt is in fact haunting her and influences her way of thinking.

 

Questions to think about:

1. Towards the end of the chapter, Kingston writes: “My aunt haunts me-her ghost drawn to me because now, after fifty years of neglect, I alone devote pages of paper to her, though not origamied into houses and clothes.” (16). Do you think Kingston’s curiosity of the disgrace her Aunt brought upon her family is a good thing? Why or why not?
2. Do you think the Chinese cultural beliefs had an impact on the families’ perception of her Aunt’s actions? Why or why not?

 

Hi! My name is Morgan and I’m a Speech major here at SUNY Cortland.  I transferred here last year and I’m going into my senior year now. I’m from Dutchess County, New York and looking forward to a great semester!